Vehicles (车辆) were turned over and roofs were torn from houses after a tornado was seen forming over a northern New South Wales town late on Thursday.

A clean-up is under way in Armidale, in the state’s Northern Tablelands, after a violent storm hit the area and knocked out power for half the town.

The tornado followed an evening of terrible storms over Greater Sydney which saw hailstones (冰雹), as large as five centimetres in diameter, fall across western and south-west Sydney. Apart from this, several thunderstorms also hit the state’s east coast.

Meteorologist (气象学家) Grace Legge said the tornado caused significant amounts of damage. “Through Armidale, we saw a very strong thunderstorm push through about 10 pm,” she said. “It did cause a tornado to touch down in the area which, unfortunately, caused significant amounts of damage. It was quite a quick-moving storm, but with stronger, violent winds.”

The State Emergency Services (SES) received 475 requests for help overnight, with 127 of those coming from citizens in Armidale. Officer Sharon Fox said it was surprising there were no reports of serious injuries after the tornado. “There were reports of roads that had been blocked, reports of large trees falling done, several reports of power lines coming off,” Ms Fox said. “It was a pretty terrible impact there in Armidale.”

A report posted by the SES this morning said half of Armidale was without power and the emergency services and uncompleted repairs were going to take some time.

Scientists are racing to study the volcano in Tonga that erupted just before sundown on January 15, 2022.

“Everything so far about this eruption is really strange,” said Janine Krippner, a scientist with Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program. “The sound of the explosion, the tsunami (海啸) waves that followed the eruption and the huge energy of this explosion, which equals to five to six million tons of TNT, are unlike any seen in recent decades.”

The sound of the latest eruption could be heard on distant shores around the world. According to Geoff Kilgour, a scientist from New Zealand, water likely has had a hand in it. “Perhaps the recent explosion had just the right mix of magma (岩浆) and water. Either more or less would have led to a quieter explosion,” he said.

The tsunami waves that followed the eruption were even stranger. Tsunami waves usually start from the center of the eruption. Yet this time, waves appeared in other places, such as the Caribbean, far earlier than would be expected of a classic tsunami. In addition, as tsunami waves travel further, they usually become weaker. While the waves that hit the islands in Tonga were damaging, they weren’t high enough to account for the surprisingly larger waves across the ocean.

Although many of the volcanoes in deep oceans usually aren’t deadly, the recent event reminds us that how dangerous they can be and that how little we know about them.

However, monitoring underwater volcanoes is a complex task. GPS—which is frequently used to track changes in the surface as magma moves underground—doesn’t work on the seafloor. And obtaining real-time data from seismometers (地震检波器) on the ocean floor is expensive and technologically difficult.

The situation in Tonga has also shown how well the Tonga Geological Services (TGS) has dealt with the latest eruption. “They don’t have a huge amount of money. They don’t have a huge amount of staff,” Janine Krippner added. “But they’re asked to do a huge amount and they have done a really nice job to reduce the possible damages.”

The thought of a natural disaster can be frightening, but you can prepare yourself and your family with an emergency kit. Though you may not know what kind of disaster will strike or when, 【小题1】.

●Pack a 3-day supply of food and water. Choose food items with a long shelf life, which don’t require refrigeration or little cooking, such as canned goods and packaged items, in case you don’t have power due to a disaster. Besides, Store 1 gallon (3.8 L) of water per person (and per pet) per day. 【小题2】, so be sure to include plenty of purified (净化的) water in bottles.

●【小题3】. Pack emergency blankets. sleeping bags, and a tent or two in case you can’t stay in your home. A multipurpose tool like a knife and a whistle would also be handy to have in your kit.

●Pack electronics and batteries. In the event of a big disaster, be sure to have several flashlights, an AM/FM radio, and extra batteries, 【小题4】.

●Include medicine and a first aid kit. Prescription and over-the-counter medicines should be included in your kit. 【小题5】. Pack extra glasses and any other medical supplies that may be needed, like hearing aids with extra batteries.